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KARACHI: Afghanistan coach Rashid Latif is furious after allegations that the Twenty20 match between Pakistan and his wards in the Guangzhou Asian Games was fixed and has openly challenged them for a re-match.
Rashid, a former Pakistan captain and now coach of the Afghanistan cricket team, said that his players’ win over their much-fancied opponents in the semifinals of the T20 cricket competition in last month’s Asian Games was not a fluke.
“My challenge is we will beat the same Pakistan team again. All this talk about the match being fixed is degrading for the hard working Afghan players,” he said.
Since Pakistan lost at the hands of newcomers Afghanistan in the last four of the Asian Games, there has been speculation in the Pakistan media that the match was fixed.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone can say what they like. I can only say I challenge them for a rematch at any venue and I know for certain we will beat them again by a bigger margin this time,” Rashid said.
He said the Afghanistan team could even pose a hard time to the Pakistani national team as they play with lot of passion and pride on the ground. “Something that is lacking in this Pakistan team right now,” he stated.
The PCB has said it is studying the report of the manager and coach of the team that played in the Asian Games.
Rashid also dismissed suggestions made by former greats including Imran Khan and Arjuna Ranatunga that former players can help the International Cricket Council (ICC) identify incidents of spot-fixing in international matches.
“I don’t know why they are saying this after so many years. The fact is that when this menace of match-fixing started, the ICC didn’t do anything and instead supported the players responsible for it. If ICC had done something then things would have been different now.
“I don’t agree with them about former players being able to identify spot-fixing incidents in matches. I think this menace is very difficult to stop now. It can only be stopped if the players themselves realise how much damage it is doing to the game,” he said.
